Kobe Steel fake data scandal deepens

Kobe Steel Ltd said on Friday it had falsified data on some of its steel wire products on top of the already announced data fabrication for aluminium, copper, iron powder products and metal materials used in optical discs, cars, aircraft, space rockets and defence equipment.

A spokesman for Japan’s third-biggest steelmaker added that the company had confirmed with its steel wire customers that there were no problems with the function and safety of the supplied products.

Kobe Steel Chief Executive Hiroya Kawasaki will hold a news conference later on Friday to provide an update on the situation. A time has not been set yet, the spokesman said.

Plummeting shares

The bombshell admissions by Japan’s third-largest steelmaker sent its shares plummeting again, with the scale of the misconduct dealing a body blow to the nation’s reputation as a high-quality manufacturing destination.

Investors, worried about the financial impact and legal fallout, have wiped out about $1.8 billion off Kobe Steel’s market value this week after the firm said about 200 companies were affected by its cheating.

On Friday, the company said it found data tampering with its steel wire products. Customers have said there are no problems with the safety or function of the products, the spokesman said.

Aircraft, cars and nuclear power plants

Boeing Co has some of the falsely certified products, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, but stressed that the world’s biggest maker of passenger jets does not as yet consider the issue a safety problem.

More than 30 non-Japanese customers including Daimler AG and Airbus SE had been affected by the firm’s data fabrication, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday.

A Kobe Steel spokesman said the companies received its products but would not confirm they had any of the falsely certified components.

Nuclear power plant parts are the latest to join the list of affected equipment as Fukushima nuclear operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said on Friday it had taken delivery of pipes from Kobe Steel that were not checked properly.

The pipes were delivered to its Fukushima Daini station, located near the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant, but have not been used, Tepco said, adding it was checking all its facilities.

Faulty parts have also been found in Japan’s famous bullet trains that run at speeds as high as around 300 kph and a space rocket that was launched in Japan earlier this week. 

One bullet train operator has already said it will seek compensation from Kobe Steel.

The government has ordered Kobe Steel to address safety concerns within about two weeks and report on how the misconduct occurred in a month.